Litigation

Experience

• Defense of $8 million claim for theft of trade secrets, employee disloyalty, breach of non-solicitation agreement, and aiding and abetting. Our client, a large truck parts supply company, hired the top two managers of one of its branch offices, with employment to start after a new branch office was built out by client. After waiting in place for three and a half months, the managers resigned from plaintiff’s branch without notice and immediately began recruiting plaintiff’s employees – and were successful in getting 55 percent of the workforce to join our client. The managers and all employees were “at will,” but one of the managers had a non-solicitation agreement, and the new employees brought customer lists with them. Plaintiff contended that the employee “lift out” irreparably destroyed their business in the state where the branch office was located. After a three-week jury trial in federal court, the jury returned a defense verdict on all counts.
• Ponzi auditor exonerated. In re Kelley (Bankr. D. Minn. 2015; File No. 12-0X008). After the collapse of a massive Ponzi scheme, the bankruptcy trustee sued an auditor of one of the special purpose entities used to conduct the fraud alleging the CPA had negligently failed to detect the fraud, causing damages of $116 million. After a two-week trial, the arbitration panel rejected the claim and awarded a total defense victory to the CPA firm.
• High-damage lawsuit defeated. A CPA firm was sued when several years of audits it performed did not uncover a massive lapping scheme involving a revolving line of credit from a bank. The accounting firm faced claims for the thefts and massive consequential damages from the audit client, its shareholders, the lender, and the holding company that acquired the lender. We quickly negotiated a resolution with the audit client’s shareholders in return for the audit client dropping its claim. We then won a jury verdict against the bank and sustained a dismissal of the holding company’s claim in a ruling by the state supreme court.
• Breach of contract trial. A major manufacturer of private label food products was sued by its former business partner for breaching their joint venture agreement. The partner’s damage claim exceeded $34 million. During the six-week trial, our team of trial lawyers convinced the court that the partner’s expert had made substantial errors and had limited the damages awarded to $275,000, less than had been offered in settlement and 1 percent of the amount claimed. Our efficiency in handling large cases was further confirmed when the partner’s financial records disclosed that the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees were approximately double the amount of our fees.
• Employer wins in non-compete fight and back pay. Our client hired a new salesperson. Shortly after the salesperson started working, his former employer, a competitor in the same industry, sued the salesperson and our client, claiming breach of a non-compete agreement, and sought to prevent the salesperson from working for anyone in the industry anywhere in the world for a full year. The former employer actually secured a court order that temporarily forced the salesperson, who had also become our client, to stop working. After a hearing where we were able to present the full facts, the court declared the non-compete agreement unenforceable, allowing the salesperson to return to work immediately. He was also awarded back pay of more than $31,000 for the time he was wrongfully prevented from working, and his new employer was awarded more than $36,000 in attorneys’ fees for having to defend the case.
• Settling a former shareholder’s claims. The majority owner of a successful company was sued by a former minority shareholder she had previously bought out. The plaintiff alleged that his rights as a minority shareholder were violated before he sold his stock. In a case of first impression, the plaintiff claimed that he had been illegally terminated from his employment and was entitled to lost salary. He also claimed emotional distress damages for having been forced off the board of directors, and he argued that his stock sale did not preclude either claim. Our team of trial lawyers first persuaded the court to dismiss the employment claim, and then resolved the rest of the claim successfully. Decisive developments in the case included locating the plaintiff’s pertinent medical records and forcing the production of his personal diary, which revealed multiple sources of distress beyond his employment termination.
• Swift action protects brand, shuts down IP infringement. When the brand name of a highly successful food product was misappropriated to sell an energy drink to young people as a faux illicit substance, our litigation and trademark teams combined forces, obtained an immediate temporary restraining order, and quickly obtained a preliminary injunction in federal court. The result was the entire removal of the infringing product from shelves within days.
• Protecting a client’s $10 million business opportunity. Our client had negotiated a very favorable financing arrangement with a wholesaler of electronic goods. Key to the transaction was credit insurance issued by an international insurer. A few months into the arrangement, the credit insurer decided it wanted to withdraw from the deal in violation of its contract. We sued the credit insurer and obtained a temporary restraining order, which prohibited the insurer from withdrawing from the transaction. The case then quickly settled, which allowed our client to earn in excess of $10 million over the life of the arrangement.
• Successful resolution of non-compete/non-solicitation dispute. Our client was a top executive of a national retail grocery, supply chain, and wholesale distribution company. After leaving the company to take a position at one of its largest competitors, our client and his new employer were sued in federal court for breach of a non-competition and non-solicitation agreement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and interference with contractual relations. After persuading the court to refrain from issuing a temporary restraining order against our client that would have prevented him from working for the competitor, we successfully settled the dispute, and our client now enjoys unencumbered employment with his new employer.

News

Events

Publications